Quote of the Day

“Joy is a puzzling emotion, little examined from a biological point of view, perhaps because we suspect Stendahl to have been right when he said “To describe happiness is to diminish it.” But it seems clear enough that it is, like other emotions, a reaction, that it does not spring to life by spontaneous generation but in response to some sort of release. To be joyful is to be relieved, to be sprung free from anxiety. It then follows that absent real anxiety, neither can there be any real joy.”

Paul Gruchow in “The Necessity of Empty Places“

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